Scandal: They refused to let the Minister of Defense cross the border in military uniform
Alexander Vulin and the delegation of the Serbian defense department, who arrived to honor the last minister of Yugoslavia, were at the last moment prohibited by the Montenegrin authorities from crossing the border in the uniform of the Serbian army.
According to Balkan media, Aleksandr Vulin intended to lay flowers at the monument to Pavle Bulatović, a native of Montenegro and the last Minister of Defense of Yugoslavia, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We contacted the competent authority of Montenegro to give the appropriate permission to our delegation on Friday, and on Monday at about 14:30 we were told that everything would be as we asked,” the Serbian Minister of Defense commented on the situation. “Then, at about 21:30, they called our ambassador to say that we were allowed everything except Serbian uniforms. And when our ambassador asked why this was so, they replied that this was the decision of the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro.”
Alexander Vulin expressed regret that Montenegro followed the path of Croatia, which this year also at the last moment banned cadets of the Serbian military school from entering the country, allegedly because of their uniform (when the guys took it off, the border guards still didn’t let them in). The cadets were going to a funeral ceremony in memory of the Serbian victims of the Ustashe concentration camp Jasenovac.
“I’m not sure that representatives of any other army will not be able to enter the territory of Montenegro in uniform, but what applies to Serbia has recently been a problem here,” said the head of the Serbian defense department. “We wanted to come to be with the Serbian people, to pay tribute to our murdered friend and compatriot Pavle Bulatovic.”
A delegation of the Serbian Ministry of Defense crossed the border of Montenegro in civilian clothes and laid flowers at the grave of Bulatovich in Gornji Rovci. The ceremony was attended by relatives of the deceased, as well as Metropolitan of Montenegro and Primorsky SOC Amfilohije Radovich.
A native of Montenegro, the last Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Pavle Bulatović, was one of the leaders of the country's defense during the NATO aggression. Until his last days, he advocated the unity of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as close cooperation between Yugoslavia and Russia. He was killed at the beginning of 2000 in Belgrade by unknown assailants; six months later the country had its own Maidan - the so-called “bulldozer revolution”.
Scandal : Defense Minister denied entry into military uniform